Mustafa Bilge Satkın

This project focuses on the environmental degradation and forced lifestyle changes experienced by local communities in northeastern and southeastern Turkey as a result of large-scale dam construction. Implemented within the framework of state water policies, the dams built in the Tigris and Çoruh valleys have submerged ancient settlements, religious structures, and numerous cultural heritage sites dating back 5,000–10,000 years. Beyond the destruction of historical landscapes, these projects have significantly altered ecological systems by changing microclimates, reducing plant and animal populations, and reshaping entire habitats.

The social consequences are equally profound. More than 20,000 people from diverse ethnic backgrounds—including Turkish, Kurdish, Arab, Georgian, and Laz communities—have been forced to abandon their homes and agricultural lands. Fertile river valleys that once supported farming and animal husbandry were lost, accelerating migration to larger cities in search of employment opportunities. This displacement has disrupted traditional livelihoods and undermined community cohesion. The transition from rural life to modern urban environments poses a threat not only to tangible heritage, such as ancient sites and monuments, but also to intangible cultural elements, including languages, rituals, and local customs that comprise the social fabric of the region.

In this context, the project also draws attention to the symbolic dimension of water, evoking the myth of Noah’s Flood, which resurfaces here through human intervention. The dialectic of the “presence of water” and the “absence of water” highlights how landscapes, societies, and collective memories are transformed under the pressures of development. This interplay reveals humanity’s recurring cycle of creation and destruction, exposing the environmental and cultural consequences of uncontrolled interventions in nature to meet basic needs.

Across Syria, the visible landscape reflects not only large-scale destruction but also the fragile boundary between loss and persistence. Since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced. Today, the impact of this prolonged conflict is evident not only in the physical devastation of cities but also in how everyday life continues within conditions of absence.

Recent political developments, including Bashar al-Assad’s departure and the emergence of Ahmed al-Sharaa as a central political figure, suggest a potential transition to a new phase. However, beyond these shifts, the country reveals a subtler, less visible reality shaped by daily practices of survival and adaptation.

In urban streets, displacement camps, and temporary settlements, children constitute one of the most visible social groups. Growing up amid destruction, many of them engage in play within ruined environments, transforming these spaces into sites of temporary normalcy. Their presence reactivates abandoned areas, filling otherwise empty spaces with movement and sound. At the same time, the gradual return of families—particularly from Türkiye—signals a cautious re-emergence of daily life, as returnees are reintroduced into unstable living conditions, where past and present coexist in uncertain ways.

Uncertainty remains a defining condition across the country. Yet rather than functioning solely as a force of fragmentation, it also produces new forms of proximity and coexistence. In this context, contemporary life in Syria can be understood as a process unfolding within the tension between destruction and continuity—where traces of the past persist, and everyday practices sustain the possibility of a future.

Lake Urmia, once one of the largest salt lakes in the world, has lost nearly 80% of its surface area over the past two decades. The combined effects of climate change, dams blocking water inflow, and intensive irrigation have caused a dramatic drop in the lake’s water levels and led to a severe ecological crisis.

Once home to flamingos and other migratory birds, Lake Urmia has gradually turned into a barren salt flat. The boats that once carried visitors across its turquoise waters now sit motionless on dry, cracked ground — silent witnesses to a vanished ecosystem. Abandoned resorts line its shores, and the salt carried by the wind has destroyed nearby farmland, changing the lives and livelihoods of thousands of people.

This environmental disaster is a stark reminder of how uncontrolled human intervention in nature can upset fragile ecological balances and threaten entire communities. It also highlights the urgent need for a renewed harmony between humanity and the natural world, emphasizing sustainable water management and environmental awareness as key to our collective future.

If the climate crisis is not acknowledged and addressed as a truly global challenge, similar ecological disasters will likely occur. Still, there is hope that through shared responsibility and environmental stewardship, Lake Urmia could someday restore its former vitality — returning to its beautiful, life-giving waters once again.

For the past 35 years, people of Afghanistan continue to suffer from the ongoing war and its effects. After years of wars, most of the population of the country consists of crippled and uneducated people. International Security Aid Force (ISAF) plans to leave Afghanistan in the following days. Although war in Afghanistan seems to be over on paper, the presence of Taliban in southern and eastern regions of the country continues to delay the reconstruction of country. In this chaos, people of Afghanistan feel futureless and try to save the day. Look of pain is dominant on streets of Afghanistan. People seem to accept the insolubility and desperation of the situation… First thing to be recognized from these people without hope is the honorable and solemn stand.

The important strategic position of Afghanistan is the main reason of the 35 years of invasion. For countries that aim to rule the world politics, the geopolitical position of Afghanistan is more important than the daily life of children, rich cultural background and honorable history of this country.

In Afghanistan, it is possible to encounter several anachronistic scenes that resemble a stage of middle age… Slices of daily life that carry the effects of wartime, traditional animal fights and Afghan games that have dense heroic figures somewhat color the life.

The main aim of the documentary photograph, to understand an environment and reflecting it, is a hard task when it comes to a place of numerous dramatic stories like Afghanistan. This work, with a plain narrative of daily life, treats the struggle of the people of Afghanistan and the children of this geography that resists war and injustice.